Construction weary students and faculty celebrated the completion of the Levin College of Law’s new state of the art library and classroom facility with a dedication by retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner.  Environmental and Land Use Law Program students and faculty have launched an ambitious agenda designed to enhance the Levin College of Law’s growing reputation in the field. 

PUBLIC INTEREST CONFERENCE GOES NATIONAL

Where better to begin than with the students, who “NAELed” down a coup of their own.  Third year law students Nathan Bess, Leslie Utiger and recent graduate Quilla Trimmer-Smith traveled to Pace Law School and returned with the rights to host the annual conference of the National Association of Environmental Law Societies (NAELS), which will be bundled with the always popular annual spring Public Interest Environmental Conference (PIEC), a Section CLE staple.  That was enough for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who agreed to serve as the opening speaker.  Kennedy, who works in Pace’s environmental law clinic, has represented the Hudson Riverkeeper and promoted the creation of Riverkeeper’s throughout the nation, including Florida.  The PIEC’s liquid connection continues with the work of Conference Co-Chair Heather Halter who convinced National Geographic underwater explorer and ocean champion Sylvia Earle to deliver a Keynote.  Kids won’t be left out of this one, however.  The PIEC is working with UF’s Center for Children’s Literature and Culture to support the conference’s overarching theme of Intergenerational Equity.  An entire track will be devoted to those most vulnerable to environmental insults, capped off with a grand finale featuring UF Law alum Carol Browner.  Mark your calendar for March 9-11 as students and speakers from around the country celebrate an environmental law spring break in Gainesville.  

NEW TAKES ON TAKINGS SYMPOSIUM

Land use and local government is featured this Fall as the Program sponsors the 5^th annual Richard E. Nelson Symposium, under the direction of Professor Michael Wolf.  Wolf and a host of distinguished scholars and practitioners from around the country will offer their take on new state and federal takings cases.  Among Wolf’s guests for this CLE event are distinguished law faculty from the University of Michigan, Notre Dame, Fordham and Pepperdine, along with UF Law’s own Mark Fenster.  Judges and practitioners from throughout the state will serve as respondents in what promises to be lively discourse on the ever-evolving takings jurisprudence.  The Program will take place at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center and begins with an evening reception on November 17^th.  For further information contact Barbara DeVoe, Director of Conference Planning at devoe@law.ufl.edu or 352-273-0615. 

FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

Program faculty have been busy as well.  Professor Mary Jane Angelo taught a module on environmental dispute resolution in the ELULP’s Costa Rica study abroad program.  Legal Skills Professor Tom Ankersen and CGR Associate in Law Richard Hamann were named statewide legal extension specialists by Florida Sea Grant, which provides marine and extension services to Florida’s coastal constituencies, especially in the area of recreational boating and the environment.  Putting students in the field, Ankersen’s Conservation Clinic has partnered with the Florida Department of Community Affairs to provide assistance to small coastal communities enrolled in DCA’s Waterfronts Florida Program.

COSTA RICA ANYONE??

At the CLE Committee meeting in Amelia Island consideration was given to partnering with UF Law’s Joint Program in Environmental Law with the University of Costa Rica to host a Section seminar or workshop in that country.  Legal Skills Professor Tom Ankersen directs the Program, which has previously hosted Conferences for the ABA Section on Natural Resources and Environmental Law (2002) and the law school’s annual Law in the Americas Conference (2004).  In order to better serve the interests of the Section it would be helpful to know what sort of subject matter members think would be most usefully provided in a Costa Rica setting.  Suggestions can be provided to Ankersen (ankersen@law.ufl.edu) or to Richard Hamann (hamann@law.ufl.edu ), who also teaches in the Program.